How to Share a Powerpoint Presentation on Zoom

Whenever we would have to present a team discussion here remotely from different locations, we would share a PowerPoint presentation on Zoom.

It is intuitive, and the great thing about Zoom is it allows you to adjust it to your desktop screen setup. 

In this guide, we will go through how you can set up and share a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation on Zoom with anyone as well as share some of our tips on how you can get the most out of it.

Let’s get started!

• 1. Sharing a Single Monitor with PowerPoint Presentation in Full Screen
• 2. Using a Single Monitor in Window with PowerPoint Presentation
• 3. Dual Monitors with One Monitor PowerPoint Presentation

1. Sharing a Single Monitor with PowerPoint Presentation in Full Screen.

If you’re using only a single monitor for your work-home setup, then this is perhaps the most straightforward way to share PowerPoint presentation on Zoom. 

The reason being you do not have to adjust it so much or have to deal with too many onscreen items especially when you have an important meeting that is coming in a few minutes which you need to be focused on.

Here’s how you share a PowerPoint presentation on Zoom using a single monitor setup with the slide show in full screen: 

1. Firstly, open the Powerpoint presentation file which you are planning to present.

2. Next, open up your Zoom app and go ahead, start or join a meeting. If you do not know how to start or join a Zoom meeting, then you may read this guide here.
3. Now, do you see the meeting controls dock with all the various options such as ‘Mute’, ‘Start Video’, ‘Share Screen’? Great, you will want to click on the Share (Share Screen) option.

4. You will have to select your monitor and click Share again. This is where for the other methods in this guide, especially if you’re using a dual or triple monitor setup, that you can choose how your Zoom setup can be. 

5. Lastly, since you’re sharing your screen at this point, all you have to do now is switch Powerpoint to slide show mode by going into your PowerPoint, clicking the Slide Show tab and then selecting either From Beginning (from the first slide in your slideshow) or From Current Slide.

Voila! You’re sharing your Powerpoint in Zoom in full screen. You can see that a green border will appear around the screen, which indicates that the monitor you are currently sharing.

2. Using a Single Monitor in Window with PowerPoint Presentation

Another way you can share a Powerpoint presentation on Zoom, particularly if you’re on a single monitor setup, is to share the slideshow in a window.

This is a great option for remote teams or moments where you need to multitask. We’ve found this useful, especially when we would need to remotely present a slideshow but also at the same time manage our internal communication using Slack.

Here’s how you can share a Powerpoint presentation in a window: 

1. Firstly, open the Powerpoint presentation file which you are planning to present.
2. Next, in Powerpoint, you will want to click on the Slide Show tab and then Set Up Slide Show.

3. Still remaining in Powerpoint, you will need to go under Show type and then here select the Browsed by an individual (window) option and then hit OK. This is what allows the Powerpoint presentation to appear as an individual window.

4. Now you can start up the slideshow mode in Powerpoint by clicking on the Slide Show tab and then selecting either From Beginning (from the first slide in your slideshow) or From Current Slide. You should see Powerpoint now be displayed as an individual window. 
5. Great! Jump into Zoom and then start or join a meeting.
6. Click Share (Share Screen) from the meeting controls bar.
7. Lastly, select the Powerpoint window and then hit Share again. 

Voila! The green border will appear around the Powerpoint window, which indicates that the slideshow window you are currently sharing.

3. Dual Monitors with One Monitor PowerPoint Presentation.

If you have a dual monitor setup and you aim to best utilize both of the monitors for when sharing your presentation, then this is the method for you. 

Having dual monitors brings the best of both worlds, which we discussed in Method 1 and Method 2. This is because you can share a Powerpoint slideshow in one monitor but have the second monitor be used as your workspace. For instance, you can have your presenter’s notes in one monitor and carry out your presentation on the other.

Here’s how you can share a Powerpoint presentation using dual monitors:

1. Firstly, open the Powerpoint presentation file which you are planning to present.
2. Next, open up your Zoom app and go ahead, start or join a meeting. 
3. Now from the meeting controls dock with all the various options, you will want to click on the Share (Share Screen) option.
4. You have to choose your primary monitor (the monitor where your Powerpoint opens in) and hit Share again.
5. Before we hop onto Zoom, there is one final thing to do! While you’re sharing your screen at this point, you need to make sure that you switch Powerpoint to slide show mode by click on the Slide Show tab and then selecting either From Beginning or From Current Slide.

Voila! 🎉 Assuming you have correctly shared your primary monitor, your meeting participants can now see your Powerpoint slides.

For proof, you can see the green border around your screen that indicates that the monitor that you are currently screen sharing. You can now also use your secondary monitor to view your presenter’s view as well as access your slide notes and control how the presentation flows.

Help! The Powerpoint presentation is not sharing with the correct monitor. What do I do?

If you find that the Powerpoint presentation is not sharing with the correct monitor, simply go into your secondary monitor where your Powerpoint presenter’s view is, click Display Settings and from the dropdown menu select Swap Presenter View and Slide Show.

As the setting’s name suggests, Powerpoint will switch the monitors that are used for the slideshow view. 

That’s pretty much all there is to share PowerPoint presentations on Zoom. If you have any questions, please comment down below, and we will try our best to help. ❤

If this guide helped you, please share it. 🙂